Dr Joanna Riddoch-Contreras, PhD

Profile

Joanna graduated with a BSc Honours degree in Neuroscience from University College London in 2003 and completed a PhD at the Institute of Neurology under the supervision of Professors Linda Greensmith and Michael Duchen in 2007. Following two subsequent postdoctoral positions at Imperial College London and Kings College London, Joanna was appointed as a Lecturer at the Barts and London Medical School, in December 2013 and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2016. The focus of her research surrounds investigating mechanism of neurodegeneration and biomarker development.

Teaching

Programme Director BSc Neuroscience  (B140)

MBBS Year 1 and year 2

Intercalated  BSc Neuroscience

Research

Research Interests:

Broad Research specialisms

• Identifying novel therapeutic targets for Alzheimer’s disease
• Investigating the interaction of amyloid-beta with metal ions
• Investigating the use of biomarkers for early dementia
• Involvement of mitochondrial dysfunction in dementia

Publications

Kieran D, Kalmar B, Dick JR, Riddoch-Contreras J, Burnstock G, Greensmith L. Treatment with arimoclomol, a coinducer of heat shock proteins, delays disease progression in ALS mice. Nature Medicine. 2004 Apr; 10(4):402-5

Riddoch-Contreras J, Yang SY, Dick JR, Goldspink G, Orrell RW, Greensmith L.Mechano-growth factor, an IGF-I splice variant, rescues motoneurons and improves muscle function in SOD1(G93A) mice. Exp Neurol. 2009 Feb;215(2):281-9.

Kiddle SJ, Thambisetty M, Simmons A, Riddoch-Contreras J, Hye A, Westman E, Pike I, Ward M, Johnston C, Lupton MK, Lunnon K, Soininen H, Kloszewska I, Tsolaki M, Vellas B, Mecocci P, Lovestone S, Newhouse S, Dobson R; Alzheimers Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Plasma based markers of [11C] PiB-PET brain amyloid burden. PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e44260.

Hye A, Riddoch-Contreras J (Joint first Author) Baird A, Ashton N, Chantal Bazenet, Leung R, Westman E, Simmons A, Dobson R, Richardson J, Gauthier S, Soininen H, Iwona Kłoszewska I, Mecocci P, Tsolaki M, Vellas B, Lovestone S. Plasma proteins predict conversion to dementia from prodromal disease. Alzheimer and Dementia, 2014 Nov; 10(6):799-807